“It is a sad statement of fact that trust in science, including the chemical sciences, is low, and continues to ebb away. So what can genuine scientists, honestly seeking to discover new insights and to enhance knowledge do about this? One approach is to be much more open and transparent about the work they do. But then the challenges of inventorship, ownership, IP, funding, and many more are raised. What if there were a technology that could help the scientific process be more transparent, traceable and provable, and so rebuild trust in science? This presentation will show how blockchain and distributed ledger technology the so-called “trust protocol” that enables cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin to work could be, and in many areas already is being used to support more open, more auditable, and more trustworthy science.”
Building on articles I have written recently on how blockchain tech can help reduce the scourge of data doctoring, and on how distributed ledger technology can help rebuild pharma corporate reputation, on July 11th 2019, I presented at the 47th IUPAC World Chemistry Congress in Paris on how I believe blockchain and DLT could help to secure, maintain and even enhance trust in science (abstract above). The slides from that presentation are now here: https://www.slideshare.net/RichardShute1/blockchain-and-distributed-ledger-technology-enhancing-trust-in-science/RichardShute1/blockchain-and-distributed-ledger-technology-enhancing-trust-in-science
I am grateful to the organisers of IUPAC 47, on the occasion of the centenary of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, for the opportunity to present.